Today's Paper

Too early for Directors General to meet: Zardari

CHENNAI: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said the confusion over whether the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence was coming to India is the result of a “miscommunication” during a telephonic talk he had with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“Miscommunication”

“There was a miscommunication. We had announced that Director would come from the ISI, because it is too early for the Directors-General to meet at the moment. Let the evidence come to light; let the investigation take its course. Then, perhaps, is the position where the Directors-General could meet,” he told Karan Thapar in the ‘Devil’s Advocate’ programme.

However, Mr. Zardari said he did not rule out “the possibility of cooperation of the highest echelons of intelligence agencies.”

A ‘world incident’

Describing the terror attack on Mumbai as a “world incident,” he said: “I am sure that the world intelligence agencies will be called. But at the same time, as the President of Pakistan let me assure you [that] if any evidence points to any individual or group in my part of the country, I shall take the strictest of action in the light of the evidence and in front of the world.”

Mr. Zardari said he would deliver on his assurances and promises to India. “I am delivering for Pakistan; I am delivering for the existence of Pakistan. I have a personal threat. I have a country threat by these same forces. They may not be the same individuals, but they are definitely the same forces with the same mindset.”